Mirror Man by Jacques Kat (ereader for textbooks txt) 📗

a stop to the chatter with one of her famous looks. All was quiet until we walked back out into the churchyard.

‘He’s a murdering git!’ yelled Mrs Kelly. ‘He should never have been allowed to this funeral. He should be rotting in prison,’ she spat.

Mum pushed me behind her as other members of the congregation muttered their agreement. ‘If any one of ya’s got anything to say about me or my boy, come and say it to my face!’ she shouted.

‘Mam, this isn’t the time,’ whispered Tina.

‘I know that, love, but they started it,’ she said so they could hear.

‘He wants hanging,’ a muffled male voice said.

‘Right, that’s enough!’ Mum said, squaring up to the crowd. ‘My boy is innocent, and I’ll have anybody who says different.’

I heard a bustling behind me and looked to find PC Williams striding towards us.

‘That’s enough, Anna,’ he said, taking her by the shoulders and guiding her back towards us. Grandad was shaking his head, but he had a hint of a smile on his face. ‘There’s a time and a place,’ he added.

Mum shook his hands off her shoulders. ‘I’m only sticking up for my lad.’

‘We all know that, Anna, but you know how it is,’ said the constable.

‘No, I don’t know. How about you explain it to me?’

PC Williams ignored her question and told us to get home before people started showing up for the wake. I doubted anyone would turn up, but a few people did. It seemed some of the community were starting to come around to the idea I wasn’t Mr Phillips’s killer.

When most of the people who had turned up started to leave, I got stuck into cleaning the pots. Pete had offered to help, but Tina wasn’t feeling well, so I said I was happy to do it alone, so he could take her home. I was scrubbing one of Mum’s best plates when something caught my eye outside. My insides dropped, as did the plate in my hands, which smashed as it hit another in the sink.

He was back in his suit, mingling with the mourners as they left. Had he been here the whole time? At the church too? No, he couldn’t have been; I’d have sensed it. Whatever the case, The Suit had found our home.

‘PC Williams! PC Williams!’ I yelled over and over as I ran through the house.

Grandad grabbed me as I burst into the dining room. ‘What is it, lad?’

‘He’s outside,’ I said, my voice now barely above a whisper.

‘Who’s outside?’ he asked.

‘Yes, who’s outside?’ asked PC Williams as he entered the dining room, most likely from the bathroom.

‘The Suit,’ I told them.

With that, the two men took off to the kitchen.

‘Be careful!’ Mum yelled after them as she took me by the shoulders. ‘Sit down, love, you look as white as the driven snow.’

‘Do you think they’ll catch him?’ I asked her.

‘I hope so, love, I really do,’ she said. ‘Then we can live our lives in peace.’

I paced up and down the dining room for what felt like hours as we waited for news on The Suit’s capture. But twenty minutes later, the two men came back, out of breath, red in the face, and sweaty.

Mum stood to greet them. ‘Well? Did you catch him?’

Both men looked at their feet. I knew that meant he’d got away.

‘We… lost him,’ said Grandad between raspy breaths.

‘What do you mean you lost him? He’s a full-grown man, not a set of keys,’ said Mum.

‘He was faster than us. He must be half our age, Anna,’ said the constable.

Mum puffed her cheeks out. ‘Where does that leave us?’

Grandad shrugged and shook his head.

‘Can I use your phone? I need to ring this into the station,’ PC Williams said.

‘Go ahead,’ said Mum. ‘You need to sit yoursen down,’ she said to Grandad.

‘I think I will,’ he said, still breathing funny.

‘I’ve phoned this in,’ PC Williams said as he returned from the kitchen ten minutes later. ‘They’re going to send a couple of patrol cars out to look for him. Are you sure it was him, John-Michael?’

‘Yes, it was definitely him,’ I told him.

‘Is that all they’re going to do, send a patrol car out? We all know that means they’ll have a quick scout around and finish up at the Golden Cod for a cod fry and chips. What about us? What if he comes back?’ Mum fretted.

‘I’ll stay in my car outside tonight, and we’ll see what we can sort out tomorrow, alright?’

‘I guess…’ she said.

‘I’ll be outside if you need me,’ PC Williams said, leaving the rest of us to wait in awkward silence.

Time ticked away slowly. My head ached, and I couldn’t sit still for long. I switched between pacing the floor and sitting at the table, willing time to speed up and bring with it news of The Suit’s arrest.

The phone rang, and the three of us jumped.

‘I’ll get it,’ Grandad said.

We all followed him to the kitchen.

He turned to the wall as he spoke to our mystery caller. ‘Chester residence.’

There was silence while we waited for whoever was on the other end to explain their reason for calling. Then Grandad finally replied; he sounded deflated.

‘Oh… yes, thank you. I’ll see to it. Goodnight.’

‘Who was it?’ asked Mum as he put the phone down.

‘That was one of the patrol cars. They’ve not been able to track him down, and I have some bad news,’ he said, rubbing the nape of his neck.

Mum snorted. ‘What could be worse than a deranged killer running around town?’

‘They went past the shop. One of the windows has been smashed,’ he said.

‘What?!’ Mum and I chimed together.

Grandad only hummed.

‘Blimey, someone needs to get down there. The place has probably been ransacked by now!’ said Mum.

‘I’m sure it’s fine, Mum,’ I said, though my stomach was doing somersaults, and not only because of the shop.

‘Gimme a minute. I’ll fetch some plywood from the garage and my tools. JC can help me board it up,’ said Grandad.

‘I’m